La Vergne officials refused to give the low-bidding hazardous waste cleaning services company a contract because an employee in February 2016 presented them with bags of human excrement.

"He (Matt Church) threw human waste on the table in front of each one of us," La Vergne Mayor Dennis Waldron said Friday.

The mayor joined Aldermen Calvin Jones and Melisa Brown on Tuesday in rejecting Alderman Jason Cole's call to award the low-bid contract to Premier Protective Services, where Church is an employee.

Church said the bags were sealed and he didn't throw them. He presented them to protest the city's response to a woman with sewage problems at her home.

"I wanted to let the city officials understand," said Church, who was upset that the government was "still allowing a human being to live in our city limits with raw sewage in her home."

Church, who described himself as director of operations for Premier, said he followed the certified steps in bagging samples of sewage for a lab and carrying them in a cooler to present to the board.

"This wasn’t just me grabbing crap off the side of the road," Church said. "It’s not considered a hazardous waste. It’s considered special waste. It was double bagged. It caused no harm to anybody. That was important for them to see that."

He touted how his company volunteered to help the woman with the sewage problem.

"We decontaminated the whole home," Church said. "Thousands of dollars was spent so she could have a livable home."

Matt Church(Photo: Submitted)

Plans to run for alderman

An unsuccessful 2016 alderman candidate, Church at least twice has had city police escort him out of La Vergne Board meetings.

The most recent escort occurred a couple of months ago after Church stood up from his audience seat to protest Brown calling for more bids on the hazardous waste services contract.

Church says the majority of the board made the issue personal with him rather than hiring the company with the lowest bid. His company, for example, charges $75 per hour for the services of a health and safety officer, and that's less than the $100-per-hour fee for TPM, the winning bidder.

"We won this fair and square on the company stature and our rates," said Church, adding that the elected officials take an oath that includes impartially discharging the duties of their office. "They should immediately resign because they broke their oath of office."

Waldron, Jones and Brown instead chose to hire TPM in a 3-1 vote even though Cole asserts that company is 37 percent higher than Premier for hourly rate services.

"Fiscally it’s not responsible," Cole said. "It’s putting more of a burden on our taxpayers. We need to use that money wisely."

Complaint made to state

"They have never given me the courtesy," said Coleman, a corporation partner who noted that he would have talked to any of the elected officials about what Church did. "It appears to me they let personal feelings, opinions or prejudices guide their decisions."

Coleman touted how his company provides services for Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority and can provide assistance to federal government responses to emergencies. His company also donated services to help Gatlinburg recover from the forest fires in 2016.

The Tennessee Comptroller's Office, which examines government contracts, has been notified of the issue but would not confirm whether an investigation is being conducted.

Waldron, Jones and Brown said they were uncomfortable working with a company that had Church as a representative.

"I don’t think Mr. Church is a proper fit for the city for the things that he’s done," Jones said.

Brown agreed.

"I don’t think anyone will ever forget having excrement thrown at them or placed in front of them," Brown said. "He told us it was safe. However, I could smell it. He assured us many times that it was safe. I would disagree."